Rolph Family Reunion by Kayley

              I loved seeing Aunt Eileen, Uncle Duncan, Everett and Georgia, and Gramps and Bippy.  My parents, my brother and sisters, and I met the rest of the Rolph family for Thanksgiving in a very nice house on the beach in Takaka near Nelson, New Zealand.    They came from California to see us in New Zealand because Bali was too far for the little ones to travel and they wanted to see us before we went travelling.  It was a very relaxing/interesting visit.

                The nice big house on the beach was awesome.  It was right on a really nice beach next to a golf course at the end of a road.  The house had a big wrap around porch and hot tub.  There were lots of chairs and cushions on the porch to sit and relax and enjoy the ocean view.  We used the hot tub when it was warm out and too late to go swim in the ocean.  I really enjoyed spending time with Georgia and Everett in the hot tub.   I liked walking on the beach from the house too.  I walked with the rest of the family several times.  We went really far during low tide.  During high tide, there was not much beach to walk on, but we played in the refreshing water instead.  The house had boogie boards and sand toys that were useful.  We also built two tipis out of drift wood we found on the beach. Building the tipis was super entertaining and hard work.   Everything about the house in Takaka was perfect.

                After a week at the awesome beach house, we drove to Kaikoaura to the dusty and catty B&B Aunt Eileen had reserved.  Everyone was really allergic in the house because it was really dusty and the owner had a cat.  We only stayed there for one night and left in the morning.  That afternoon, while we were eating lunch, the B&B lady tracked us down and was offended because we had left without giving her 24 hrs. notice.  She thought that we had skipped town without paying.  I thought it was kind of weird and unnecessary.

                After lunch, we went to a sheep shearing demonstration.  First, the guy who did the demonstration handed Zander a day old lamb and everyone passed it around. The lamb was really cute.  Then, he took us inside and told us about different wools and prices. That was kind of boring, but the wool was really soft and oily. When he sheared the sheep the machine was really loud and the sheep squirmed, so I felt sorry for the yew.   Her covering looked like a ploughed field from the razor.  I learned a lot about sheep and their wool from the sheep shearing demonstration.

                On our last day in Kaikoara, we went whale watching.   It was a coincidence that the B&B lady was our safety instructor on the tour.  I felt awkward.    We saw three male sperm whales on the tour.  Gramps had his watch out and timed how many seconds was in between each whale spout.   He’s a stats person and wanted to know how many second in between each whale breath.  I thought that was pretty funny.

                I really enjoyed spending time with the Rolph family.  I miss waking up and seeing Everett and Gramps in the living room every morning.  I like to see Aunt Eileen, Uncle Duncan, Everett and Georgia, and Gramps and Bippy anywhere, but this time they came to meet us in New Zealand and that was really cool.